EVALUATION OF THE TERATOGENIC POTENTIALS OF NEEM SEED OIL IN ALBINO RAT

ABSTRACT The safe use of medicines, both modern as well as traditional, during gestation is becoming an increasingly contentious issue because many therapeutic agents have proved to be menace as they produce congenital malformations in offspring when used during pregnancy. The present study was undertaken to investigate the effects of Neem Seed Oil administration during gestation on young ones of albino rat. 300 off springs of albino rat were used in this study. They were obtained from 60 pregnant rats at term or at 20 th day of gestation. The pregnant rats were divided in four groups. Group A received freshly extracted Neem Seed Oil 0.5 ml orally from 6 th to 12 th days of gestation. Groups B and C received 1.0 and 2.0 ml of oil orally for same period. Group D behaved as control and received 0.5 ml of distilled water orally for same period. The pregnant rats were observed for duration of pregnancy, weight gain, abortions and number of pups given birth. The obtained pups were examined for any structural malformations. There was no incidence of abortion in treated animals like controls. There were no resorptions in control group. Treated group A, B and C had incidence of 2.3, 5.7 and 15.3% respectively. No gross structural malformation was found in control or any of the treated groups. Neem Seed Oil was not found to be embryo/feto toxic in terms of causing abortions, reduced number of litter, retarded growth of young ones, fetal death, fetal resorptions and gross structural malformations in all doses tested